CATCS is starting up a new mailing list to send out annual newsletters. Messages will be sent out 1-2 times every year describing recent projects undertaken by the committee, funding opportunities, links to useful resources, etc. Anyone interested in hearing about our activities is welcome to sign up at this link. You do not have to be a member of SIGACT to sign up.

A reminder about a fairly new major prize that is highly relevant to the TCS community (won last year by Prasad Raghavendra and David Steurer):

The National Academy of Sciences has initiated the Michael and Sheila Held Prize. The prize of $100,000 will be presented annually. The Prize honors outstanding, innovative, creative and influential research in the areas of combinatorial and discrete optimization, or related parts of computer science, such as the design and analysis of algorithms and complexity theory. The prize is intended to recognize recent work(defined as published within the last eight years). The prize was established in 2017 by the bequest of Michael and Sheila Held.

David Woodruff compiled a list of major awards that are relevant to the theoretical computer science community. Included is a brief description of each, a link to the nomination instructions, and examples of researchers from TCS and related fields that won the award in the past. See https://thmatters.wordpress.com/tcs-awards-list/. (Also available under the “Resources” tab at TheoryMatters.) Nominate a deserving theorist!

One great tradition at the ITCS conference is the “graduating bits” session, where graduating PhD students and postdocs give brief overviews of their research in advance of going out on the job market. See here for instructions on how to apply (the deadline is January 8, 2018, and the session is four days later). Hopefully these talks will be recorded and archived as well.

Avi Wigderson has a new book coming out, Mathematics and Computation, with a draft freely available on the Web. In addition to being a great overview of many of the “greatest hits” of theoretical computer science, the last chapter (Chapter 20) lays out how TCS has influenced and connected to the life sciences, the social sciences, and technology.

Rao Kosaraju will be stepping down soon from his position as Director of the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations at NSF, after several years of terrific service. The official job announcement for a new director was just posted. This is an extremely important position — please consider applying!

In the US, most of the funding for TCS comes from the NSF. It’s crucial for our community that good people serve at the NSF. There’s a new opportunity to do so, with an opening for a new Program Director in the Algorithmic Foundations (AF) area: see job announcement here. This is for a rotator position, which is generally two years in duration. Please consider applying!

Here are the details on a brand-new prize that is highly relevant to the TCS community:

The National Academy of Sciences has initiated the Michael and Sheila Held Prize. The prize of $100,000 will be presented annually. The Prize honors outstanding, innovative, creative and influential research in the areas of combinatorial and discrete optimization, or related parts of computer science, such as the design and analysis of algorithms and complexity theory. The prize is intended to recognize recent work(defined as published within the last eight years). The prize was established in 2017 by the bequest of Michael and Sheila Held.

The selection committee consists of Richard Karp, Kurt Mehlhorn, Christos Papadimitriou, Eva Tardos, and Avi Wigderson. Nominations are due on October 2, 2017, and information about the submission process can be found at http://www.nasonline.org/held.

There have been a number of exciting TCS workshops held in Banff over the years, and now there is a sister workshop center in Oaxaca, as well. If you’re interested in organizing a workshop at either center, see the instructions below.

***

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is now accepting proposals for its 2019 program. BIRS will again be hosting a 48-week scientific program at its station in Banff. BIRS is also hoping to run an additional 20-25 workshops at its affiliated station, Casa Matemática Oaxaca (CMO), in Mexico.

The mandate of BIRS is to provide an environment for creative interaction and the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the mathematical, statistical, and computing sciences, and with related disciplines and industrial sectors. Each week, the station hosts either a full workshop (42 people for 5 days) or two half-workshops (each with 21 people for 5 days). As usual, BIRS provides full accommodation, board, and research facilities at no cost to the invited participants, in a setting conducive to research and collaboration.

The deadline for 5-day Workshop and Summer School proposals is Thursday September 28, 2017.

Proposals need to take into account that BIRS is committed to increasing the participation of women and other under-represented groups in mathematical sciences research and their applications. Full information, guidelines, and online forms are available at the BIRS website: http://www.birs.ca

In addition BIRS will operate its Research in Teams and Focused Research Groups programs, which allow smaller groups of researchers to get together for several weeks of uninterrupted work at the station. September 28, 2017 is also the preferred date to apply for these programs. However, proposals for projects involving Research in Teams or Focused Research Groups can be submitted at any time – subject to availability – they must be received at least 4 months before their requested start date.